Website Spotlight: Farming in the 1930s

Website URL: http://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/farminginthe1930s.html

Introductory Note:

Welcome to one in a series of posts which spotlight quality websites that I use with my U.S. History survey course students at Azusa Pacific University to enrich the regular material in our learning modules.

In this post, I limit myself to those specific aspects of the website which I find fit particularly well within our face-to-face class sessions (each student is required to bring a laptop to class) or as the basis for the students' regularly-assigned written reactions.

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I ask the students to work through the following links:

World Events (This is good. Read it first.)
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/worldevents_01.html

I. MAKING MONEY
http://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/money_01.html

Read each subtopic that I have noted below; click on the link in the left sidebar.

a. Crash!:

b. What Followed the Crash:

Worldwide Depression
Wall Street to RFD
Burning Corn for Fuel
Couldn't Even Buy a Job
RFD to Main Street

c. Bank Failures:

Foreclosures
Penny Auctions
Radical Farm Protests
Barter Economies

II. WATER
http://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_01.html

Read each subtopic that I have noted below; click on the link in the left sidebar.

a. Drought:

The Dust Bowl
No Water, No Crops
Calling Off School
Red Dust

b. Okies:

Riding the Rails
Hitchhiking

III. FARM LIFE
http://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_01.html

Read each subtopic that I have noted below; click on the link in the left sidebar.

a. Surviving the Weather:

Accidents and Illnesses
Feeding the Family
Chores
Flour Sack Clothes
Foodways

b. Bringing Electricity:

Impact of the REA
Building the Lines
Changing Rural Homes
Changing Farm Work

c. Indoor Plumbing

d. Having Fun:

Radio
Movies
Jazz
Dancing
Dating
Family Time

e. Going to School:

School Days
School Programs

f. Community Churches:

Diversity in Religion

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Concluding Note:

I hope you will use this blog post in conjunction with both the modules on my Learning Professor wiki and the numerous other posts in my Website Spotlight series.

1. The website spotlighted in this post fits within the following U.S. History survey course module on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/Great+Depression

2. The other blog posts in my Website Spotlight series--chronologically displayed by U.S. History survey course module-- can be found on this wiki page:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/WEBSITE+SPOTLIGHT